The Volcano Number (also Volcano Reference File Number, Volcano Numbering System, or VNUM) is a hierarchical geographical system to uniquely identify and tag volcanoes and volcanic features on Earth. The numbers consist of four numerals, a hyphen, then two or three more numerals. The first two numerals identify the region, the next two the subregion, and the last two or three the individual volcano. The VNUM was developed by the ''Catalogue of the Active Volcanoes of the World'' project of the International Association of Volcanology, now the

International Association of Volcanology and Chemistry of the Earth's Interior The International Association of Volcanology and Chemistry of the Earth's Interior (IAVCEI) is a learned society that focuses on research in volcanology, efforts to mitigate volcanic disasters, and research into closely related disciplines, such a ...

(IAVCEI), in the late 1930s. It is currently administered by the

Global Volcanism Program The Smithsonian Institution's Global Volcanism Program (GVP) documents Earth's volcanoes and their eruptive history over the past 10,000 years. The mission of the GVP is to document, understand, and disseminate information about global volcanic a ...

at the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

(USA), in cooperation with the IAVCEI, and the World Organization of Volcano Observatories (WOVO), a commission of IAVCEI. The number system was used in both editions of the book

Volcanoes of the World ''Volcanoes of the World'' is a book that was published in three editions in 1981, 1994, and 2010 as a collaboration between volcanologists around the world, and the Smithsonian Institution's Global Volcanism Program (GVP). Editions The three edi ...

in 1981 and 1994. In September 2013, the Global Volcanism Program announced a new format for Volcano Number. The new format is a 6-digit number, and no longer includes non-numeric characters.

References

External links

Smithsonian / IAVCEI Volcano Numbers
{{List of volcanoes Volcanology Volcanoes